


Sirius: Dog Days

by jack_tariff



Category: Sirius the Jaeger
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, no vampires or ark in this story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:28:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24929932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jack_tariff/pseuds/jack_tariff
Summary: Ryoko Naoe revives an ancient curse and must bargain with a bloodthirsty busboy in order to right the wrongs of her family's long forgotten past.
Relationships: Naoe Ryouko & Yuliy
Comments: 9
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter One

Monday 10 December 2018  
Ryoko stood in front of an old wooden bridge over a dry streambed. In front of her, on the other side of the bridge were the gentle slopes of thickly wooded hills, and behind her was an empty beach. The sky was overcast and the world was quiet except for the sound of an ocean breeze--there were no sea birds or any other living creature in sight. Ryoko wasn’t quite sure how she wound up this place, and she had a foreboding feeling that she shouldn’t be there. She turned to face the beach and watched the ocean beat slowly but relentlessly against the flat gray sand that stretched in every direction. Then the wind picked up and the ground shook violently, knocking Ryoko to her knees. The ocean receded rapidly from the beach, and Ryoko leapt up to run from the tsunami she knew would not be far behind.

  
As her feet struck the worn planks of the bridge, Ryoko realized that even though she was running, she was not afraid of the imminent danger. She raced along the dirt path that led away from the beach to the forest, following it toward the trees between the hills instead of climbing to higher ground. As she came closer, she could see that the trees were taller and broader than any she had ever seen before, and their branches wove together over the path until they seemed to form a tunnel. Then she spotted a figure standing just inside the treeline, cast entirely in shadow and watching her as she approached.

  
Ryoko slowed to a stop as she reached the trees. The figure was a man about a head taller than her and looked like he could also be in his twenties. He appeared to be dressed for cold weather in layers of handmade clothes, and his hair was dark and messy except for a streak of white over the left side of his pale but handsome face. His eyes were a striking blue, and looked down at her with a light of recognition even though they had never met before. 

  
The earth had stopped shaking, but the wind still whipped the heavy tree branches into a frenzy over their heads. Ryoko felt as if the wind was now pulling her into the forest, but it was so dark that she could barely see a few metres down the path from where she and the young man now stood. There was not even a pinprick of light in the distance to assure her that there was even an exit.

  
She had to go. Pebbles crunched beneath her shoes as Ryoko took a hesitant step forward. Then she turned to the young man and shouted over the din, “We have to get out of here.”

  
He nodded solemnly and shouted back, “I’ll be with you.” Without explanation, Ryoko knew that the man she had just met would follow her anywhere. 

  
They started quickly down the path together until they were swallowed by the dark and Ryoko could no longer see her traveling companion. Then the ground beneath her feet began to shake again and Ryoko stumbled, throwing her hands out to catch herself as she fell. Her fingers brushed against something big, and warm, and shockingly hairy that snarled at her touch. Then dirt flew up into her face as they ran away from her, and she was suddenly, terribly, alone.

* * *

Ryoko woke with a start to find her plane had landed at the single-strip Wakkanai Airport on the northern shore of Hokkaido. She blinked her brown eyes and smoothed a hand over her straight brown hair, surprised at herself for falling asleep during the short flight from Tokyo. The other passengers on the plane, mostly tourists and a few locals, stirred restlessly and talked cheerfully to each other as the flight crew prepared the plane for unloading. Many visitors had come to Wakkanai for winter sports and spoke excitedly to each other about the week’s snowy forecast.

  
Ryoko, however, was less thrilled. After she had seen what the other passengers had brought along for their time up north, she knew that her own meager winter closet was not going to cut it. She would have to do some shopping once she got settled. At least it meant that she had only one suitcase to shove into the back of the cab she called outside of the airport, and she was able to enjoy her ride into town in comfort. 

  
As Japan’s northernmost city, Wakkanai enjoyed cold and windy winters. The sky had been patchy with blue when the plane had landed, but brooding, snow-heavy clouds had quickly rolled in. Still more snow blanketed the ground and piled up beside the road, where it had become grey and grimy. The buildings they passed on the highway were a mix of new and outdated, but they all looked equally drab and colorless in the dull afternoon twilight. Ryoko sat back in her seat and stifled a sigh, surprised at her sudden drop in mood. She blamed it on the unexpected nap she’d had on the plane--it must have thrown off her internal clock somehow. She would get something to eat and maybe a little tea when she arrived at her destination, and then she would be right as rain.

  
They passed through the busiest part of town, then entered quieter, more residential streets. With the bay to the east, people had been forced to build right up against the sprawling hills on the west. The forest had lost its leaves for the winter, allowing Ryoko to see the world-famous hiking trails that crisscrossed the low hills of Wakkanai’s parks. She briefly imagined herself exploring them herself, but she had been a city girl her entire life. What did she know about hiking? 

  
The cab came to a stop at a lighted intersection. On Ryoko’s right she could see an indoor shopping complex topped by modern apartments. On her left was a temple, with bright white walls and red trim beneath its dark, distinctly-shaped roof. The driver peered around the intersection and then said, “I’m sorry, Miss, I must have missed your turn. What was the address again?”

  
Ryoko looked out of the left-side window. A narrow road went out of the intersection and into a cleft between two hills, parallel to a sunken stream that ran swiftly into a sewer grate under the road and eventually out to sea. Pressing her forehead to the glass, Ryoko thought she could see a sign half-covered in snow beside the road, and said cautiously, “I think it has to be down that way. It’s the Kurokami Ryokan.”

  
“Kurokami?” The old driver sat up, with distress plain on his face. “Oh, yes, Miss, I know where that is, but I can’t take you there!”

  
To Ryoko’s amazement, the old man got out of his cab as the light turned green and opened the rear door. He wore a polite, insistent smile, and other cars behind the cab were honking impatiently. Flustered and confused, Ryoko pulled herself and her suitcase out onto the sidewalk in front of the temple and watched as the cab drove away. Then she turned away from the town and started walking along the side of the road. When she reached it, she used her bare hand to push the snow off of the rustic-looking sign to reveal Kurokami Hot Springs Resort written in black English lettering. She was pleased that her hunch had been right, but she was puzzled by the cab driver’s unwillingness to drive her all the way to the ryokan. 

  
She walked for ten minutes down the road and didn’t see cars drive by in either direction. She could see the security wall of the resort up ahead, and then understood why the cabbie had refused to drive her to her destination; when they were closed, the great wooden gates looked forbidding, like the entrance to a feudal warlord’s castle. There was a small gatehouse a short distance from the wall, and the lone middle-aged guard inside of it watched Ryoko approach with an interested look on his face. 

  
“Good afternoon,” he said with a polite but puzzled smile when Ryoko finally reached the gatehouse. “Can I help you?”  
Ryoko flushed, keenly aware of how strange she must have looked coming up the road on foot with her suitcase rolling noisily along beside her. “Good afternoon,” she replied cheerfully, fighting to keep her teeth from chattering as she spoke. “My name is Ryoko Naoe. I’m the new General Manager.”

  
The guard’s eyes grew wide and he all but leapt to attention. “Miss Naoe!” He exclaimed. “I’ll alert the other staff that you’ve arrived. Please go inside before you catch your death of the cold!” He pointed Ryoko to a door beside the gate marked RESORT STAFF ONLY, and unlocked it electronically from inside of the gatehouse. After she passed through, Ryoko was surprised by the scene of comparative peace and serenity she found waiting on the other side. 

  
The resort had been built over the site of an older inn in a hollow between the hills a short distance from Wakkanai. The wind that had been deafening on the outside of the wall now only stirred the tops of the old bare-branched oaks and maples that had been carefully cultivated across the grounds. From the gate, the car road snaked around the back of the ryokan and out of sight. Where Ryoko stood just inside the wall, she could see a raised wooden pathway that meandered over the front gardens of the estate and then crossed over a large, steaming pond up to the main entrance. The multi-story buildings of the resort imitated the appearance of imperial architecture while boasting fully updated facilities, which attracted guests seeking a traditional onsen experience without missing any modern conveniences. It was also one of the most expensive ryokans in the area, inspiring a reputation of exclusivity that was advertised as unmatched anywhere else in Hokkaido. 

  
For Ryoko and her family, the resort was a source of both great pride and unaddressed sorrow. She had been there a few times when she was very young, and remembered very little of what it looked like before its most recent renovations. Her grandfather, who still lived on the grounds and oversaw the inn’s operations, had offered her the position of temporary general manager out of equal parts nepotism and distrust of outsiders. It had also been the first time that he had reached out to Ryoko since the death of her mother years earlier. She had accepted the position partially hoping that she would be able to reach out across the schism that had appeared in her family tree, but she was dismayed that her grandfather did not appear among the staff that had assembled at the inn’s front door. They watched Ryoko expectantly as she climbed the steps, awkwardly lifting her suitcase beside her, then stopped at the mat and peered around cluelessly at them. She said at last, “Uh, hello. I’m Ryoko Naoe, the new--”

  
Before she could finish, two young women in crisp, clean uniforms darted forward. They both bowed perfunctorily, and when they straightened up Ryoko could see that they were identical except for the cut of their hair. 

  
“Welcome, General Manager!” They exclaimed in unison, and the rest of the staff echoed them more sedately. The twins introduced themselves enthusiastically as Larissa and Tamara, though Ryoko would soon forget which was which as they began to bombard her with questions. “Didn’t you come all the way from Tokyo?” “Is that little suitcase everything that you brought?” “Don’t be stupid, I bet she has tons of cool clothes in her car. Do you have a car?” “Forget the car! Do you have any magazines?”

  
A tall man came forward, a hand raised to cut off the twins’ eager interrogation. “That is enough.” Unlike the girls, he had a calm air and a serene but stern expression. Like everyone who had come to greet Ryoko, he was dressed sharply and well-groomed, with hair long enough to tie back into a ponytail. He turned sedately to Ryoko and said, “Please forgive them, General Manager. We are all very happy to welcome you to the ryokan. My name is Jiro Akimoto, and I am the Head of Guest Relations.”

  
Ryoko recognized his name and title from her grandfather’s emails, and offered him a small, grateful smile. “A pleasure to finally meet you, Mr Akimoto.”

  
Jiro then turned to the assembled staff and said, “Please return to your duties. The General Manager will be taking a tour around our facilities in a short while.”

  
The staff dispersed, including the twins, who complained loudly before being chased off to do whatever they did at the ryokan. Jiro then addressed Ryoko again. “Mr Akasaka unfortunately could not be here to welcome you. He has left on urgent business matters, but I am available to assist you. This way, please.” 

  
Disappointment settled like a heavy weight in Ryoko’s chest, but she did not allow it to appear on her face as she followed Akimoto through the entrance and into the brightly lit lobby. Two corridors branched off of the reception area with signs posted in Japanese and English beside them. Jiro explained as they walked, “To the left are the indoor and outdoor baths. The spa and masseurs are upstairs, along with some storage and administrative offices.” They continued walking down the hall just behind the front desk, to the left of a door marked STAFF ONLY. “Down this way are guest rooms. We have thirty attached to the main building.” Proudly, he added, “We are fully booked through the end of the year.”

  
Large windows were set in the left wall of the corridor to allow guests a view of the inner garden. Most of the snow-covered garden was cast in shadow by the surrounding buildings and the decorative pond appeared to be frozen, but Ryoko guessed that it was quite inviting during the spring and summer. Beyond the garden was the high wooden wall hiding the outdoor baths from view. On the right side of the hall were doors marked STORAGE and FACILITIES, then another corridor leading to a portion of the guest rooms. 

  
The hall continued to the left, and Ryoko saw more rooms. At the end were a pair of double doors, also marked STAFF ONLY. They walked through to what appeared to be a small mudroom, then another set of doors into a bustling kitchen. Hot steam and savory smells washed over Ryoko, instantly warming her inside and out. “Here is where we prepare meals for the guests,” Jiro said. He led Ryoko past rows of stoves, sinks, and walk-in refrigerators while busy cooks hauled vats of hot broth and fresh-caught fish around them. They entered a quiet staff room occupied by round tables. A few people were taking their breaks, including the exuberant twins. From the hush that fell over the room when they stepped in, Ryoko knew they had been discussing their new General Manager.

  
Jiro paused before a door leading outside to pull his jacket off of a coat rack nearby. As he put it on he said, “I’ll show you to your quarters now, and you may put away your luggage.” Ryoko nodded and followed him back out to the bracing cold.  
The rear of the ryokan had a beautiful view of the river that ran through the small hollow. A blanket of snow lay over the gently sloping hillside. On the other side of the river, dark evergreens formed a forbidding-looking forest. They followed a wooden-plank path along the top of the hill toward an outbuilding. Ryoko paused, confused about where Jiro was taking her.

  
“This isn't the way to grandfather’s house,” she said. Turning her face westward, she could see the old mansion that stood watch over the resort from its place higher up the slope. All of the lights were off and yellow caution tape had been strung across its porch to prevent anyone from entering. “What is all that?”

  
“Did Mr Akasaka not inform you?” Jiro sounded surprised. “There was a landslide less than a week ago. The house is not structurally sound and it is dangerous to go inside.”

  
“No, he didn’t mention that,” Ryoko muttered. Her disappointment was beginning to simmer into anger. Why wouldn’t her grandfather have told her something so important? “So where am I staying?”

  
Jiro continued walking toward the outbuilding. “The only space still available on the property are the summer rooms,” he explained. “Rest assured that we have taken every measure to make your stay there as comfortable as possible.”

  
The outbuilding was actually four small suites all attached in a row and slightly raised off of the ground. They were two storeys tall with dramatically sloping roofs and a common rear garden. In the summer they were caressed by a cool breeze off of the river, but in the winter they looked drafty and lonesome. Jiro brought Ryoko to the unit at the far end and handed her a pair of keys. 

  
“Please take your time settling in,” he said, and she wondered if he was sincere. All she had was a pathetic little suitcase. “When you’re ready, I’ll meet you at the front lobby.”

  
Ryoko thanked him and went into the suite. On the bottom floor, directly to the left of the front door was a closet. To the right was a steep staircase up to the second floor. Past the stairs was a large-ish bathroom with a tub as well as two shower spigots, and a separate door into the toilet. Then the hall opened up into a common area, with a simple kitchen on the left. Sliding glass doors opened up onto the garden with paper blinds that could be lowered for privacy. As she had expected it was nearly freezing inside, but she found that there was a heated kotatsu in the common room. There was also a television, DVD player, and decent WiFi. 

  
She carried her suitcase up the stairs to the sleeping area. It was an open space with another closet where bedding was stored, along with a low table that could be folded up and set aside. The resort staff had also put a heater up here, but Ryoko resisted the urge to turn it on. She was still groggy from her nap, and if she got comfortable now she might not have enough momentum to keep going with the rest of her day. 

  
As she stood in the middle of the sleeping area assembling her thoughts, Ryoko heard a scratching sound downstairs. Her first thought was that birds or rodents had settled under the building, but as she listened she determined that it sounded like something was moving around on the rear deck. 

  
“Jiro? Is that you?” Ryoko called as she descended the stairs. When she reached the common area, she could no longer hear anything but went to the glass doors and raised the blinds anyway. There was snow on the deck but no one in sight.  
She opened the doors and stepped out to take a closer look. The snow was only in front of her apartment, not the others. It had been tracked from the garden, where deep indents indicated that someone, or something, had recently been walking. The prints were far apart but formed two distinct paths: one toward the building, and another away. Even to her inexperienced eyes, she knew that they were not human.

  
After a minute of consideration, Ryoko shrugged. She went inside to splash some water on her face and make note of other amenities she’d need to pick up in town before heading down to the lobby once more. 

* * *

All through the rest of Jiro’s tour and her few hours getting settled into the office, Ryoko felt as if she were being watched. She could only chalk it up to nerves on her first day for so long, and by the evening she was relieved when the rest of the administrative staff headed home for the night. Even though she was exhausted she decided to head into town to buy a few things. According to Jiro her grandfather had been kind enough to allow her to use his car while he was gone, so at least she didn’t have to deal with another taxi.

  
The ryokan’s grounds were lit by modern electric lamp posts, but the wooded hills beyond loomed like sleeping giants. The tunnel of trees past the gate was dark and eerie, illuminated only by the car’s headlights. Ryoko didn’t realize she had been holding her breath as she drove through it until she reached the street beyond the resort’s entrance and sighed.

  
Her phone’s GPS directed her to a convenience store not far from the resort. She was able to buy soap, face wash, and a few cheap groceries that would have to suffice until her first paycheck cleared. As she left the store, she paused to take in the sleepy coastal town’s atmosphere. The air was so clean, and the moonless sky was a deep velvety blue. She could see down the street all the way down to the water, where fishing vessels were moored. Buoys with blinking red and white lights bobbed in the nearly black sea. Only a few cars passed as she stood in the parking lot, and she felt very far from everyone and everything she had ever known. 

* * *

_The wind through the trees sounded just like the scraping of the surf upon the beach, though here it was accompanied by the buzzing of cicadas and not the mournful cry of sea birds. In a shaded hollow, a cluster of high-roofed wooden buildings surrounded a steaming pool of deep, dark water. Sacred talismans that were strung up on the lintels of each structure rattled noisily as if they were disturbed by the passage of spirits._

  
_Inside one of the buildings a woman kneeled in front of a wooden tray as other women looked on. On the tray were simple clay bowls handmade by the people of her village, and within the bowls were priceless pigments and powders that had been brought from afar for her exclusive use. It was the first time she had ever worn make-up, and she probably would never wear it again, but her hand was surprisingly steady as she applied it with care to her calm and expressionless face._

_When she was done she set the bowls and brushes back in order and set the tray aside. The women who had been watching all rose in unison to dress her in beautiful robes and place ornaments in her hair. Then they stood back to take in their handiwork. Some looked sad, and others proud. A matronly figure came forward to smooth a few stray strands of the young woman’s hair and told her softly, “You are beautiful, Sachi.”_

  
_The woman she addressed only nodded. She did not dare move her face for fear of disturbing the paint. So much depended on her fulfilling her duties perfectly. Without another word, the group left the building and followed a path from the hollow out to the village proper. Warriors young and old stood in formation to escort her to the water where several longboats had been prepared for a short voyage. Before climbing into one of them, Sachi was covered with a straw hat and cape to protect her from the jealous ocean’s spray._

_No other woman was permitted to accompany Sachi to her final destination. She had said her good-byes before her journey, but she had also known for years that she would be leaving her village someday never to return. She had been chosen as many others had before her to continue the ancient ritual that protected her people and ensured that the cycle of nature lived on._

_The sun was high and the sky was clear as Sachi was carried north by her entourage to the mysterious island that had lurked just beyond the horizon. The men of her village had traveled to trade there for as long as anyone could remember, but Sachi herself had never seen that strange land and its people for herself._

_She watched from under the brim of her hat as it grew closer and became more distinct. Forests not unlike those she had grown up in climbed the slopes of a low-lying mountain, and smoke climbed into the sky from the fires of a village that perched precariously on the island’s pebbly shore. People in colorful costume awaited them silently as they approached, and Sachi marveled at how similar, yet different they seemed to be from her people._

_The chief of the other tribe stepped into the water to help Sachi off of her boat. She marveled at the luxurious white fur cape he wore, and how he did not even sweat despite the incessant summer heat. His voice was deep and rumbling when he said to her, in her own language, “Welcome to Choka.”_

_Sachi responded with a single nod. She moved slowly to avoid slipping, fully aware of the many eyes that were watching her take her first steps onto her new home. The warriors from her village fell into line behind the pair and they walked to a large square clearing in the center of the settlement. A large fire had been built at one end, while at the other was a covered seating area reserved for the guests of honor. Still silent, everyone went to their designated places so that the ceremonies could begin._

  
_The warriors from Sachi’s village lined one side of the square as their Chokan counterparts took their place on the other. Sachi sat beside the chief and was offered a bowl of fruit by a female attendant. Not wishing to be rude, Sachi accepted it but did not eat. The chief, however, had no hang ups about tucking into a plate of grilled fish and rice wine as someone began to beat a drum._

  
_Sachi’s heart began to hammer in her chest as the warriors adopted fighting stances, though she could see that the polearms carried on each side were ceremonial and would not do any harm. They shouted and stamped their feet, raising clouds of dust_ _that made her eyes water, before engaging in a mock battle. Their combat represented the war between the sea-god Susanoo and the moon-god Tsukuyomi from before the creation of man. The brothers had fought after Susanoo had imprisoned their third sibling, the sun-goddess Amaterasu in a cave and plunged the world into darkness in order to expand his own influence on the universe. His effort had been thwarted by Tsukuyomi, who had rescued and then wedded his sister. Sachi now represented the sun goddess as young women from her village had done for hundreds of years, and watched the warriors carefully for some sign of the man that she had been sent to marry._

  
_The drumbeat became more emphatic as a lone figure entered the field carrying a wooden stave. He wore cloth armor and a fur cloak like the chief’s, but hid his face behind a ceramic mask in the likeness of a snarling wolf. As one, the warriors turned and charged him but he effortlessly routed each fighter in turn. Then one of the fighters from her village doffed a serpent mask and faced the newcomer; Sachi held her breath. This would be the final battle between Tsukuyomi and Susanoo._

_The serpent warrior leapt at the wolf warrior and their weapons came together with a loud clatter. Susanoo’s stand-in then circled Tsukuyomi’s, feinting at his legs and then swinging speedily at his unguarded head. The man in the wolf mask blocked each blow, but just barely. Then he lunged forward to lever his greater size against his opponent by locking their polearms together and pressing down with all of his weight. The crowd looked on in stunned silence, and even the drumming had stopped. Though Sachi knew that this story would end as it always had, she could not help but think that the ferocity with which the two men fought each other stemmed from something beyond devotion to the heavenly tale._

  
_The man from her village cried out and swept his leg out to try and trip the man from Choka, who stumbled back. With an answering roar, the Chokan warrior thrust his stave forward with so much force that it shattered the other man’s mask and he fell to the ground unconscious._

  
_Several moments passed, and then a cheer went up from the audience. Tsukuyomi had once again defeated Susanoo, and Amaterasu would be restored. Sachi sighed with relief, and the chief laughed. He raised his wine toward the man in the wolf mask and said boastfully, “My son, Aleksei! The moon god himself could not hope to defeat him!”_

  
_The village women began to bring out platters of grilled meats and vegetables for the feast that traditionally followed the_ _opening battle. More ritual performances were to come, and would continue well into the evening as the wine flowed. Instead of joining in the celebrations, however, Sachi held very still as Aleksei walked toward her. She could see nothing behind the narrow eye holes cut into the mask, and wondered just what sort of person she was about to spend the rest of her life with._

  
_Suddenly he tripped on a stone that jutted up from the earth and fell clumsily on his face in front of her. The mask popped off and his hood came down, covering his face again. To Sachi’s surprise and relief, instead of being angered by his lack of decorum, the chief roared with laughter as if his son had just pulled a youthful prank. Quickly Aleksei sat up on his knees and brushed the dust from his front with his hands before pushing the hood out of the way. Sachi could finally see that he was handsome, and shared many of his father’s strong features. She could also tell that he was embarrassed, but he smiled boyishly at her anyway._

_“Perhaps the moon-god is also a bit clumsy,” he said. In her village, such words would have been considered blasphemous, but Sachi could already tell that they did things a little differently around here. Aleksei continued, “Please, forgive me. My name is Aleksei and you are…” He blurted out, “You are so beautiful.”_

  
_Sachi stiffened, taken aback by how forward he was with her, and how immediately charmed she had been by it. His smile faltered as he determined that he may have offended her somehow. Then she stopped worrying about her face paint and giggled._

  
_“My name is Sachi,” she told him. “It is very nice to meet you.”_


	2. Chapter Two

7 AM Tuesday 10 December

Ryoko woke early the next day with her brain befuddled by strange dreams. She had forgotten them by the time she had finished showering and scarfing down a simple breakfast of fried eggs and toast. Then she dressed and left for work, an unbeatable commute of just a few minutes’ walking. 

She entered through the employee break room and she could hear the chefs hard at work preparing breakfast for the guests. After she had poured herself a coffee from the single-serving machine in the break room, Ryoko carefully navigated through the kitchen without getting in anyone’s way. Then she got herself situated in the office above the lobby answering emails and returning phone calls that had been left for her predecessor.

Other administrative employees trickled in and greeted her politely before settling in to their own tasks for the day. Jiro came in before his shift at the front desk to ask how she was doing after her first night in her room. She told him that she had been quite comfortable, which seemed to please him. Then he suggested that she join him in the lobby later to get some experience greeting guests, and she agreed.

Before Ryoko knew it, it was noon. She decided to take lunch before meeting Jiro and made her way down to the kitchen. Jiro had explained the day before that the kitchen supplied simple lunches and dinners for the resort staff, as well as more elaborate feasts for those who had to work on holidays. Today they were serving pork cutlets over rice and steamed vegetables, stored in reusable containers inside of a steel cabinet for employees to take. Ryoko also snagged a glass of fruit juice before heading for the break room. 

When she approached the swinging doors a busboy entered from the other direction, walking backwards as he pulled a cart of dirty dishes in to be washed. The door knocked the juice from Ryoko’s hand and she gasped as it shattered on the floor. The man with the cart stopped, taken by surprise.

“Sorry!” Ryoko squeaked instinctively and stooped to try and gather the shards of glass together with one hand, still holding her lunch tray with the other. Then the man crouched beside her, pulling a rag from the band of his apron and waving her away.

“Stop that,” he said coldly. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Ryoko glanced sidelong at him, startled by his tone and embarrassed because he was right. He appeared to be about her age, with long dark hair that was mostly tied back in a ponytail. The shorter locks fell in front of his pale and serious face, excepting one defiant white-colored cowlick that stuck out on the left side of his forehead. He did not look at her but at the floor, using the rag to sweep the glass into a pile. 

A server hurried over with a mop and told Ryoko, “We’ve got this, Manager. Enjoy your lunch.”

Ryoko thanked him and went into the break room, trying not to feel guilty. It had been a simple accident and no one was to blame; however, the busboy had sounded very annoyed and she felt bad for getting in his way when he was obviously already busy. She tried to remember if he had been among the employees that Jiro had introduced her to the day before, but then a shrill girl’s voice called out to her from one of the tables. 

“Manager, over here!” 

It was one of the twins who was also on her break, but thankfully still wearing her name tag so that Ryoko could tell that she was Tamara. She had finished her staff lunch and was washing it down with a can of coffee while reading on her phone.   
“Hey! So how’s your first day going? Have you ever managed a resort like this before?” The younger girl asked before Ryoko had even sat down. “I like your outfit! Did you buy that in Tokyo?”

Ryoko answered, “Uh, no. I bought it in Osaka.”

“Osaka! Wow,” Tamara’s eyes went wide. “Do you travel a lot?”

“No, not really,” Ryoko replied. She quickly realized she would never get a chance to eat if she allowed Tamara to continue leading the conversation, so she fired back a question of her own. “Do you get out much?”

Tamara sighed. “No, sis and I have never left town. Our dad has been sick ever since we were young, so we’ve always had to work and we don’t have money to spare on vacations or cute clothes or anything like that.”

Ryoko swallowed a polite mouthful of rice and remarked, “I’m sorry to hear that about your father.”

With a shrug, Tamara said, “At least we have our jobs at the ryokan. And we never have to worry about being replaced by someone more qualified, since it’s impossible to hire any other locals.”

Ryoko paused with another bite halfway between her lunch tray and her open mouth. She considered asking Tamara why she felt that she and her sister were underqualified for their positions, but then she decided that was a discussion for another time. Instead she asked, “What do you mean, about hiring other locals?”

Tamara put her chin in one hand and tapped the top of her coffee can with a manicured finger of the other. “Because of the curse,” she answered matter-of-factly. 

“Curse?” Jiro had failed to mention a curse of any kind, but Ryoko was almost halfway done with her katsu and had to keep Tamara talking if she wanted to finish it. “What curse?”

“Your curse, of course!” Tamara exclaimed, slapping both of her hands on the table. Another pair of employees eating across the room stopped to look at them over their shoulders, and Tamara lowered her voice. “I mean, the curse that’s on your family and this whole ryokan. Don’t you know about it?”

Ryoko frowned at her. “No, I’ve never heard of any curses. I don’t believe in those kinds of things.”

“Well, the people of Wakkanai sure do,” Tamara told her. “Especially the oldsters. My grandma told us the story when we were little kids.”

Whatever that story was, Ryoko wouldn’t get to hear it just yet. A timer on Tamara’s phone went off and she stood up. “Oh! My break’s over!”

Ryoko had also finished her lunch. “It was a pleasure sitting with you,” she said politely. “I hope we can do this again.”

To her absolute astonishment, Tamara winked and said, “You bet, boss.”

Ryoko returned her tray to the kitchen, freshened up in the bathroom, and then went to find Jiro. He was at the guest relations desk in the lobby along with Tamara, who was chatting with a pair of visitors as they checked in. Over the next couple of hours they gave Ryoko a walkthrough of their systems, demonstrated visitor processes, and even let her try checking a few guests in.

The face-to-face interactions with visitors was a new experience for Ryoko, who had never worked a customer service position before. Tamara seemed to be a natural, her charisma and friendliness immediately helping the guests feel welcome, while Jiro’s calm and collected demeanor assured them that their needs would be met quickly and competently. Ryoko, however, was nervous about making a mistake in front of the people she was supposed to be leading. Neither of them seemed to notice though, and they said to return any time that she needed a break from working at her desk. Ryoko thought that they were just being polite--but she also knew that if someone had to be absent from their post in the lobby, she would be expected to fill in.

Ryoko spent the last hour of her work day catching up on still more emails, then printing out the employee handbook so that she could read it in her room without staring at a screen. She considered passing through the kitchen again to find that busboy from earlier to thank him for his help, but changed her mind after recalling the sour look on his face. It would probably just annoy him further, and she didn’t want to make a fool of herself over something as trivial as a glass of orange juice. 

The sun was already setting as Ryoko walked up the path toward the outbuilding, and she regretted not getting outside at all during the day. Wakkanai’s position at the very northern tip of Japan made for long dark winters, and she knew from her experience in school that if she stayed inside for too long she was going to make herself stir-crazy. 

She paused halfway up the slope to look toward her grandfather’s house. It looked eerie in the twilight, its black windows resembling empty eye sockets and the shadow around the porch making it appear as if the house had a wide, screaming mouth. The yellow caution tape whipped in the wind and the tall trees around it sighed. 

Ryoko looked closer, feeling as if something was not right. She saw that one of the windows on the ground floor, on the side of the building that was not visible from most of the resort, was open. 

Ryoko’s sensible side advised her not to investigate even as she started walking down the path away from her room to find a route to her grandfather’s house. She had to cross the staff parking lot and encountered an overgrown fence, then followed it around to a hidden driveway that she vaguely recalled from her childhood visits. Then she hiked up the driveway, glancing occasionally over her shoulder as if she expected someone to come along and catch her. It wasn’t as if she was doing anything wrong--it was her family’s house, after all. However, she did recall Jiro’s warning that the ground beneath the house was unstable and promised herself to flee at the first sign of structural collapse.

The snow had piled up around the house and Ryoko was not wearing the right shoes to go walking through it. Instead she stepped cautiously onto the porch and listened. She couldn’t hear anyone in the house, and she reasoned that if she really thought it had been burgled, she had better call the police. There was no way to be sure without checking inside first, though, and she really didn’t want to call them for no reason at all…

There were a few additional keys on the ring that Jiro had given her with the car key, and after a few tries Ryoko discovered that one of them was for the mansion’s front door. It creaked loudly as it swung inward, making Ryoko flinch. Cautiously, she called out, “Is anyone there?”

Ryoko steeled herself and stepped in. She wasn’t really there to see if anyone had trespassed--she was there because she wanted to defy her grandfather, who had run off despite all of their unfinished business. 

The inside of the mansion was gloomy and cold. Built after the war, the interior was made up of polished dark woods and wallpaper, with high ceilings and narrow halls. Though it had updated electricals, the light fixtures still resembled wall-mounted gas lamps and glass chandeliers. To the right of the front door was a sitting room with furniture that had been covered with sheets to protect it from dust, and Ryoko felt the cold air coming in from the open window on the far wall. Turning on the flashlight on her phone, Ryoko entered and looked around for anything that seemed amiss.

She recalled, faintly, spending time with her family here when she was younger. They had used to light fires in the huge hearth, which was now swept clean of ashes. There had also been oil portraits of her extended family hanging on the walls, but they had since been removed. Other decorations, like smaller framed photographs, hand painted vases, and her grandfather’s prized antique radio had also been put away. She assumed, at least, that if someone had actually broken in they would have been looking for cash or jewelry, things to pawn off quickly rather than easily identifiable family heirlooms. 

There was a sound like a step in the hallway, and Ryoko spun around with her heart hammering in her chest. She called out again, “Hello!? Who’s there!?”

She picked up an iron poker from beside the fireplace and crept out of the sitting room. Her flashlight reflected off of the polished crystal knob of the door across the hall, and she thought she saw it turning as if someone grasped it from the other side. Boldly, she grabbed it and found the door was actually locked.

If her memory served her right, that door led into the kitchen and there would be another way in from the dining room further down the hall. She hurried to the dining room’s entryway and balked briefly at the huge, bizarrely-shaped wraith against one wall until she realized it was only the table, and the chairs had been stacked upside-down on top of it to keep them out of the way. 

The swinging door from the kitchen to the dining room had also been locked. Ryoko set down her poker to fish for the keys in her pocket. Then she heard the footsteps again, this time hurrying away from her toward the front door.

“Hey!” She called, forgetting her makeshift weapon and racing after the sound. There was no one at the door but she heard furniture scraping against the floor in the sitting room, and remembered that she had left the window open.  
Something had left puddles in the hallway and Ryoko slipped, crashing her left shoulder and the side of her head into the front door but somehow remaining upright. She shouted more in surprise than pain, then stumbled into the sitting room. There was no one there, but as she went to the open window she could see a dark shape racing across the snow and into the woods.

“Stop!” She shouted, her voice echoing across the clearing, but the shape disappeared. Looking down at the ground, she saw footprints--but just like the set she had seen outside of her room, she knew that they could not be human.

* * *

  
_As the feast seemed to be winding down, one of the older women of the village brought Sachi a small bowl and a generous serving of warmed rice wine._

_At first, the young woman was hesitant to accept. “Thank you, but I’m not sure I should drink this,” she said. Though Sachi had never drank it before, she was aware of the effects and was concerned about how it would affect her behavior._

_The woman replied, “It will help you to relax. Trust me, girly, you will need it for what comes next.”_

_A flush came over Sachi’s cheeks. She understood what the woman was telling her. The wine stung her dry lips and she gagged at the taste, but the woman gestured for her to drink it quickly. After Sachi emptied the bowl, the woman filled it once more, and Sachi again drained it._

_There was a burning sensation in her throat and a warmth in her belly that was different from the fullness of the feast. The warmth trickled down from her navel until it reached the apex of her legs and Sachi squeezed her thighs together uneasily. Arousal was not a new sensation for her, but she was shocked and ashamed of herself for having piqued it. The woman filled her cup a third time and said, “Drink this one slowly, it wouldn’t do for you to fall asleep.” Then she winked and left._

_Sachi became restless, unsure if the old woman had done her a favor or not. She guessed that she would have preferred to be relaxed for what was to follow the feast--but what if she needed to be alert? What if she did something wrong? The people of both villages were relying on Sachi and Aleksei to complete that night’s ritual, and if they failed…_

_Sachi sipped the bowl of wine again, deciding that if they were to succeed, she could not let the small flame in her belly burn out. Beside her, Aleksei laughed uproariously at something a friend was telling him. Sachi thought she could feel the sound reverberate in her own body and put a hand on her chest to calm her racing heart. Then the conversations slowly died down around them as men began extinguishing the fires and women began cleaning up the dishes. The chief stood up and Aleksei helped Sachi to her feet. With a wordless nod, the chief began to lead them out of the square to the edge of the settlement._

_When they reached a wooden gate, the chief handed Aleksei a bedroll and a ceramic water jug. “See you in the morning,” he said casually, and watched them step onto a worn dirt path that led from the village up to the hills._

_The lights of the fires were too far and the stars were hidden from view as the silent pair ascended, though Aleksei did not seem to have any trouble seeing where they were going. Sachi however, already feeling unsteady after all of the wine, stumbled on the uneven ground. Aleksei caught her with his shoulder and asked, “Are you all right?”_

_Sachi nodded and then said aloud, “Yes, forgive me. It’s just so dark…”_

_“Oh, of course!” Aleksei exclaimed. Sachi heard him shuffling the objects he carried and felt him push the jug into her arms. “Could you carry this? And then I can take your other hand…”_   
_Sachi cradled the jug in one arm and felt Aleksei’s warm hand brush against her sleeve until the back of his fingers brushed her wrist. Unconsciously, Sachi sucked in a breath and Aleksei jerked his hand away._

_“I’m sorry!” He said quickly. “I was too forward.”_

_“No, it’s fine,” Sachi replied, reaching out until she found his arm. Then she took his hand and squeezed it tightly. The wine had served to make her bolder, but she also wanted to get out of the dark woods and accomplish their ritual without any further delay. Aleksei led on, speaking only to advise her of hazards like raised tree roots and a dry creek bed. They hiked for what seemed like an age until at last the forest fell away and they crested the top of a rocky hill. Only a lone, wind-gnarled tree stood defiant in the moonlight at the end of the path, and beyond it was a sheer cliff with a yawning cave mouth set into it._

_A breeze carried the smell of the sea up to the hill and disturbed the branches of the tree. Beads and bells that had been hung among the leaves made small tinkling sounds. Sachi knew that the trinkets had been left behind by the couples that had been here before them, and in the morning, she and Aleksei would add their own._

_Aleksei let go of her hand and breathed deeply. “It’s a beautiful night.” Below them, the forest lay silent from the hills to the shore, disturbed only by the space cleared by the villagers for fields and houses. The ocean was a flat back plain, and the sky above it was rich with stars. There was no moon, which somehow made the world feel lonely._

_Sachi hugged the water jug to her chest and nodded. The calm brought on by the rice wine had disappeared now, and her heart was beating so loudly that she was sure Aleksei could hear it. He reached for her hand again and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Then they walked wordlessly together into the cave to make good on their promise to their elders, and everyone else that would come after._

* * *

Ryoko sat on the beach with her arms folded across her knees, staring out at the sea and listening to the surf. There was a grey fog in the distance that obscured the horizon, and she knew without looking behind her that she would see those familiar hills and the wooden bridge. The light from the sun was diffused by the overcast sky, and the world lacked color. She thought she was alone until she caught movement from the corner of her eye.

Turning her head and raising a hand to her face to shield her eyes, Ryoko saw the same young man from before walking toward her from further down the beach. He followed the edge of the wet sand and seemed wary of the waves, stumbling over the uneven ground whenever they threatened to splash his feet. When he reached Ryoko he looked as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated.

Ryoko stared up at him patiently, but when he continued to say nothing she patted the sand beside her.

“Why don’t you sit down?” She suggested.

After a moment, the man lowered himself to sit cross-legged an arm’s length from Ryoko. His face was expressionless, almost suspicious even as she smiled at him. “My name is Ryoko,” she said. Then she asked, “What’s your name?”

When he didn’t answer, she looked out over the ocean and continued, “The sea is beautiful isn’t it?”

To her utter astonishment, Ryoko thought she heard the young man beside her begin to growl like an animal. Then she realized it was actually coming from some point far away over the water. The man said something that she could not understand. 

“What?”

“You don’t belong here!” He barked, baring his teeth and glaring at her. His knuckles were white as he balled his hands into fists and stood up. “Go away!”

Taken aback, Ryoko watched as he turned to start walking toward the woods. Then she got to her feet and called out to him, shouting to be heard over the rumbling that was growing louder and louder. “Wait! You said--”

The sound of rushing water made her stop and look over her shoulder. Though there had not been any warning quake the water was retreating from the shore as a foaming white wall came rushing out of the fog. It was another tsunami, and there was no time for Ryoko to escape.

* * *

  
About 4AM, Wednesday 11 December

Ryoko started awake drenched in cold sweat. It took a moment for her to put together that she had fallen asleep on the ground floor of her suite, half under the kotatsu with the remains of her dinner still laid out next to the employee handbook she had been reading. It was very unlike her to fall asleep in the middle of work but she reasoned that while wearing comfortable sweatpants, the warmth from the heater beneath the table, as well as the standing heater in the middle of the room, had been too damn cozy for her to resist. Both were off now, as well as all of the lights. Ryoko checked the time on her phone and got up to brush her teeth so that she could go to her proper bed.

The light did not come on in the bathroom and she realized that she had possibly blown a fuse. When a search inside the suite did not reveal the circuit breaker box, she groaned. That meant it had to be somewhere outside.

Ryoko could have left it for the morning, but the summer suite was too damn cold to go back to sleep without the heat on. She dug a pair of slippers out of the front closet and put a coat on before stepping onto the rear porch. The cold was bracing, and she almost retreated. 

Once again using her phone as a flashlight, Ryoko shuffled around toward the side of the building. There was a small utility shed where she guessed would be the most reasonable place to start looking for the circuit breaker, but the porch stopped at the corner and did not continue around. For the second time, Ryoko found herself wearing the wrong kind of shoes and resolved to buy snow boots the next day. With a warrior’s resolve, she stepped off of the porch and stifled a shriek as she sunk into snow nearly halfway to her knees.

Grumbling admonishments at herself for getting into this situation in the first place, Ryoko trudged to the shed and found it secured with a padlock. Even if she had brought her grandfather’s keys she doubted that any of them would have opened it. She would just have to get help from the groundskeepers in the morning.

Defeated, Ryoko turned around to return to her room. As she rounded the corner she froze. A huge, black, four-legged and furry shape stood on the raised porch. The creature glared down at her with hard blue eyes, and sharp white teeth in a long muzzle gleamed in the light from her phone. It was like a dog, but bigger and fiercer looking than any she’d ever seen before. 

The dog snarled and readied to pounce. Ryoko screamed, certain that she was about to be torn to pieces.

There was a loud banging sound from behind the dog and a woman’s voice shouted, “Hey!” 

The dog snarled again and leapt. Ryoko ducked and the creature sailed over her head, disappearing into the dark of the night. A tall, beautiful, dark skinned woman in silk pajamas appeared where the dog had been standing and called out to Ryoko, “Are you okay!?”

Ryoko picked herself up out of the snow, trembling from cold and adrenaline. She could hardly believe what she had just seen. “Y-yes!” She answered, teeth chattering. “Th-thank you!”

The woman reached down to help Ryoko up. While her arrival had most likely saved Ryoko from becoming free-range dog food, her presence was puzzling and inspired several questions. Ryoko asked, “I’m s-s-sorry, but who--?”

“My name is Dorothea,” the woman replied, smiling. “I’m staying in the room next to yours. We just got in, maybe a little more than an hour ago. And just in time, too!”  
Dorothea pointed to the suite beside Ryoko’s. The loud bang she heard had been the rear door being thrown open. 

“Sorry for disturbing you,” Ryoko said apologetically. She was beginning to calm down now that the danger had passed, and she was presented with a new puzzling phenomenon. Jiro had told her that all of the rooms at the ryokan had been booked through the season, and hadn’t mentioned allowing additional guests to rent the summer suites.

“You’re kidding!” Dorothea laughed. “I’d hate to imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t been here. I was already awake anyway, I get the worst jet lag when we travel. I was actually just coming outside to see if I could do anything about the power going out.”

“Oh no!” Ryoko moaned. “Yours too?”

“All of them, I imagine,” Dorothea jerked her thumb at the rest of the suites. “My boss and our colleague are renting the other rooms and I don’t think the circuits could handle all of the heaters running at once.”

Ryoko could have cried; besides fearing for her life, now as the ryokan’s manager she was frustrated and embarrassed that her guests’ needs had been so grievously overlooked. “I’m so sorry!” She apologized again. “I’ll have someone out here first thing in the morning to make sure it won’t happen again!”

Dorothea looked confused, and Ryoko explained, “I’m Ryoko Naoe, I’m the manager.”  
“Oh,” Dorothea gasped. Her demeanor shifted slightly to one of slightly more deference. “Please, don’t beat yourself up about it, Miss Naoe. Our stay was arranged at the very last minute, and we’re very grateful for Mr Akimoto’s accommodation.” She waved a hand. “I’m sure that we’ll survive one night without the heat on. Just try to get some rest.”

Ryoko only nodded, and Dorothea returned to her room. As Ryoko re-entered her own suite, she could hear Dorothea’s voice, slightly muffled, speaking with someone else next door. Resigned to going without power for one night, Ryoko brought her pillows downstairs. There was still a bit of warmth trapped beneath the kotatsu, and it would have to do until she arranged for an electrician to come in the morning. 


	3. Chapter Three

8 AM Wednesday 12 December

Ryoko woke up cold and exhausted. She had stirred several times in the night believing that the big black dog was outside of her room. When her alarm finally went off in the morning, she felt like a wrung-out sponge with a full sink of dirty dishes waiting for her. 

Fortunately for Ryoko she was the kind of productive person that could keep themselves going no matter what--as long as she could get herself started. It helped immensely to know that because of the thermal springs at the resort, she didn’t need electricity to run a hot shower. She would have to scrounge for breakfast elsewhere, but at least there would be coffee in the staff room. 

When she left, Ryoko paused outside of her door to take in the view. The sky was completely overcast and would remain so all day. It had already snowed a little, covering up the previous night’s tracks, and there was still more precipitation in the forecast starting at noon. To Ryoko, the world seemed muffled beneath the snow, as if it was a membrane between herself and reality. Her grandfather’s empty house had also seemed dreamlike as she walked through it, and the dog seemed like something out of a nightmare. 

Ryoko shook her head vehemently and took a spurious leap into the snow with both feet to shock herself back to earth. She regretted it immediately; her shoes and socks were soaked through and her feet were unbearably cold as she marched down the path to the ryokan. When she reached the staff room she found that the twins had already started making coffee. They greeted her cheerfully but gasped in dismay at the sight of her wet ankle boots.

“What happened?” Tamara asked. “Did you fall?”

“Yeah,” Ryoko answered untruthfully. “I really have to go shopping for some better shoes.”

“You’ll want to get it done before Friday,” Tamara advised her. “It’s supposed to snow all weekend, you know.”

Tamara finished making her coffee and stepped aside to let her sister have a turn. “Why don’t we take you shopping?” She suggested. “We’re the best shoppers in town, it’s all we do!”

After a moment, Larissa boldly took Ryoko’s hand in two of hers. “Please! Let’s go tomorrow, we both have the day off.”

Ryoko was put off by the sad puppy dog looks the girls were giving her but gave their offer some serious consideration. She had no friends of her own in the area and didn’t see any immediate harm in spending an afternoon with the twins. She’d also hoped to wait until she got paid, but she still had a credit card that could afford enough to get her through the weekend.

“Tomorrow,” she said, slipping her hand out of Larissa’s. “Sounds great. I’ll pick you guys up at your house?”

Larissa stepped aside and offered Ryoko a mug to make her own coffee. “Perfect! I’ll email you the address later.”

Ryoko enjoyed hearing the girls gabble excitedly about where they would go. Then as she started toward her office, she remembered to ask, “If you see Mr Akimoto later, would you tell him I need to see him?”

“Sure thing, boss,” the twins replied in unison, then went back to planning their shopping trip. They hunched over their phones browsing fashion websites until Ryoko left the room. Then Larissa asked her sister, “Are you sure you want to bring the manager along tomorrow?”

“It’s not a big deal,” Tamara shrugged. “Unless you really wanted to third wheel all by yourself.”

Larissa made a face. “I thought it wasn’t a date?”

“It isn’t!” Tamara exclaimed, hugging her phone to her chest. “I mean, it is, but he doesn’t know it yet.” She showed the screen to Larissa. “But once he sees how cute I am in this skirt he’ll definitely ask me out, right?”

Tamara’s eyebrows rose and she snickered. “Don’t worry. In that skirt,  _ somebody _ will.”

* * *

9:30 AM

Ryoko’s most urgent task was finding an electrician. There was already a file with all of the professional services that had worked with her grandfather to keep up the resort, but to her surprise the closest electrician on the list was in Toyotomi, nearly an hour away. The owner was polite and friendly when she called and agreed to come out to the property himself to see what he could do. 

Jiro appeared in the doorway to her office as she hung up the phone. “Good morning, Miss Naoe,” he said affably. “I believe I owe you an explanation.”

Ryoko waved him in and gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Yes! Mr Akimoto! How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you,” Jiro answered as he sat down. “I imagine you were a bit surprised by your new neighbors this morning.”

“Last night, actually,” Ryoko said, laughing lightly and folding her hands on her desk, trying to look professional yet at ease. “Turns out all of the heaters blew out the power, and I ran into one of the new guests when I went out to the fusebox.”

“Blew the power?” Jiro sounded astonished. “I didn’t even consider… I’m so sorry, Miss Naoe.”

“It’s okay, there’s no way you could have known!” Ryoko waved his apology away, more out of her own need to keep the peace than any actual forgiveness. She was, in actuality, pretty annoyed. “It’s not like you’re an electrician. I just got off the phone with one, he’ll be by later today to see if there’s anything to be done about the power situation. But…” 

Ryoko grimaced. Even with her time spent at the guest services desk the day before, she felt like she didn’t really have a grasp on the difficulty or scope of his job, so she felt genuinely bad about telling him, “...You may need to offer them some sort of compensation for their less than stellar accommodations… Maybe a partial refund…?”

Jiro smiled, catching on to her unease. “I’ll reach out to them and find out what we can do to make their stay more comfortable, but I don’t think you need to be too concerned.” Ryoko frowned, and Jiro explained further. “Their reservation was quite uncertain, I wasn’t even able to confirm it until the evening of the day you arrived. Mr Willard is a scientist associated with the University of Exeter who is here on a research trip. Our summer rooms were the very last accommodations available for the time period he needed, and he gave me the impression that he would be spending most of his time outdoors.”

“Really? The only ones left?” Ryoko was shocked. A high-end hot springs resort didn’t seem like the kind of place for a scientist. 

“Yes. Wakkanai is very popular this time of year for winter sports.” 

“I knew that, but what kind of  _ science  _ could he be doing?”

Jiro confessed, “He told me, but it has slipped my mind at the moment.”

Ryoko shrugged, “I guess it’s not that important. I’m relieved to hear that you don’t think the heat will be too much of an issue.”

Nodding in affirmation, Jiro said, “I appreciate your concern, Miss Naoe. Is there anything else that I can help you with?”

Ryoko shook her head, prepared to dismiss him, then stopped. “Actually… I saw something kind of weird last night when I went outside. Do you know if there are any wild dogs in the area?”

This question truly surprised Jiro. “Wild dogs? I don’t think so. Did you see something?”

“Yeah, it was huge,” Ryoko said, spreading her arms to try and illustrate the size of the creature she had seen. “And totally black. It came out of nowhere while I was walking to the fusebox and scared the living daylights out of me.”

Jiro smiled slyly. “I’m surprised, Miss Naoe. Did rumors of the curse already get to you?”

Ryoko responded with a frown. “It’s been mentioned, but I have to say that my family never told me about any curse.”

“Interesting,” Jiro remarked in a guarded tone that was difficult for Ryoko to interpret. “I’ve picked up a little, here and there. The  _ Kurokami _ , the black wolf, is a powerful spirit. The inn that was first built on this hot spring was named for it, and the people of Wakkanai considered the black wolf to be a guardian. At some point all of that changed, and now the black wolf is a symbol of great misfortune.”

Ryoko did not mention that the legend was so influential that her cab driver had refused to even bring her up the driveway when she arrived. Instead, she said, “I guess it’s not too different from the kind of ghost stories you hear all over Japan.”

“Just the local flavor,” Jiro agreed. “Is that all, Miss Naoe?”

“Yes,” Ryoko replied with a placid smile. “Thanks again.”

He left, and Ryoko was occupied until the electrician arrived. She led him, along with a few members of the resort’s maintenance crew, up to the summer rooms and investigated the outage. 

To Ryoko’s relief, Dorothea and her associates had gone for the day. The maintenance crew turned the power back on in the building and helped the electrician take measurements with all kinds of gadgets that Ryoko had never seen before. They also threw around technical terms and made industry-insider jokes that she did not understand, but laughed politely along with them anyway. 

Eventually, the electrician told her what she already knew--that the number of heaters, in addition to the other electronics that were being used in the summer rooms, had drawn too much power and blown several fuses. The outbuilding was older than the rest of the resort, and because it was only used seasonally it was likely to happen again unless they sourced more power from somewhere else, which left Ryoko with a few options. They could get more power from the resort’s main building, which would require at least some minor but difficult construction to bury cables under the ground and get them wired into the summer rooms’ electrics. The work would be impossible to complete before the predicted snow on Friday, and Ryoko steadfastly refused to subject herself or her guests to one more freezing night. 

The electrician then offered to rent the resort a generator that could be used when the heaters were turned on at night. It was a temporary, minimally invasive solution that Ryoko thought was suitable for as long as the other rooms were occupied. If her grandfather believed that it would be necessary to update the electrics, he could make that decision with her when he got back.

Ryoko signed a rental contract and approved the deposit as snow once again began to fall. Then she offered the electrician coffee in the staff room to warm up before he drove back to Toyotomi to pick up the generator. He accepted gratefully.

As they entered the staff room they saw the kitchen’s morning shift preparing to leave. Most of them chatted affably with one another but one stood apart: the busboy that had cleaned up her broken glass. He shrugged slowly into a well-worn jacket and then tucked an envelope into an inside pocket before moving around the larger group and toward the exit. He glanced at Ryoko as he walked past the coffee machine, and their eyes briefly met. She saw that his were a deep, dark blue, like the water beneath the ice on a frozen pond, and just as cold.

Ryoko’s cheeks flushed and she looked away. The electrician had asked her a question that she had totally missed. 

The electrician left and Ryoko ate an early lunch before attending her other duties. A few hours later, she was signing another form for the electrician stating that his installment of the generator was satisfactory. She hadn’t actually seen it for herself yet, but she was looking forward to having light and warmth again. Then she groaned inwardly; how much of a bore had she become when the highlight of her day was going back to bed!?

Ryoko sank into her keyboard. Then a knock on her door had her upright again, calling cheerfully, “Come in!”

It was Jiro, laden with gifts. “Miss Naoe, I came to ask a favor of you.”

Ryoko was surprised. Jiro didn’t seem the type to ask for help, he was so competent that he didn’t need any. “Sure, anything,” she told him.

“Could you deliver these to the guests in the summer rooms?” He set three reed baskets on Ryoko’s desk. Each had an identical bottle of sake, some porcelain glasses, and instructions on how to warm the sake printed in English on a small piece of embossed paper. “I gave your suggestion of compensation a little more thought, and I believe our guests will be happy with this to help them stay warm tonight.”

Ryoko raised her eyebrows; she didn’t know much about sake, especially the high-end stuff, but these bottles seemed expensive. No doubt they would be received without complaint. 

“No problem,” Ryoko nodded. “I’ll drop them off on my way out today.”

* * *

6:05 PM

It was very dark by the time Ryoko left the building and she felt her mood plummet further. She had tried to stay late to get ahead on her work, but she was too tired to concentrate and had given up. Now she lugged herself and three baskets of booze up the hill to the summer rooms. The sight of the lights on in the room next to hers assured her that the generator, purring gently just a short distance from the building with a protective tarp over it, was working perfectly.

Ryoko knocked on her neighbors’ door and sucked in a deep breath. She just had to keep it together for a few minutes more, and then she could collapse on her mat beside the heater for the rest of the night.

Dorothea opened the door and a wave of warm air passed over Ryoko, almost as if the room beyond were welcoming her inside. Dorothea smiled wide. “Miss Naoe! Good evening. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Ryoko offered one of the baskets to Dorothea. “Hello. I just wanted to apologize again for the power outage. I hope you weren’t too cold last night. This is for you…”

Dorothea accepted the package and raised the bottle to her face, inspecting the label with wide eyes. “Sake? Wow, this is too much! Thank you!”

Ryoko smiled, pleased by that reaction. “You’re most welcome. I have other bottles here, for your companions in the next rooms. Could you make sure they get them?”

She was about to hand over the other baskets when Dorothea stood aside, opening the door and beckoning Ryoko in. “Make sure yourself! Come in, won’t you?”

Mortified, Ryoko shook her head. “Oh, I couldn’t intrude.”

Dorothea laughed, “It’s your hotel, isn’t it? I insist. They’ll be glad to meet you.”

Ryoko didn’t want to make a scene. It would only be a minute of introductions, presenting the wine, and then showing herself out. She stepped into the room and Dorothea closed the door with a triumphant, “There! Was that so bad?” 

Ryoko took her snow-crusted shoes off and set them beside the closet. This suite was the mirror reflection of hers, but somehow it seemed so much larger. The air was filled with the delicious smell of butter, garlic, and lemongrass. A man was in the kitchen, standing over a sizzling pan on the stove. In the sitting room, two more men were playing dominos while seated at the kotatsu; one was about the same age as Dorothea with long red hair tied back. The other was significantly younger, perhaps even a teenager. He was pale and blonde. All three looked at her when she entered and then gave her a hearty hello.

Any questions of Dorothea’s authenticity were answered then and there as she gestured around the room at her companions.

“At the table are Philip Lewenhart, our intern, and Alistair Fallon, our logistics expert. In the kitchen is Dr Willard, but you can just call him Professor.”

The Professor nodded toward Ryoko. “Good evening. You must be Miss Naoe. Thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful resort.” He turned back around to mind his pan, and Dorothea ushered Ryoko toward the table.

“Check it out!” She said, holding the bottle she had in her hand out to Fallon. He read the label and raised his eyebrows.

“Wow! That’s some nice warming sake. Where’d you get it?”

“A gift from Miss Naoe!” Dorothea answered. “I’ll heat it up right now.”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” Ryoko said again.

“Do you mean the electricity last night?” Philip asked. “We didn’t even notice. We were so tired that most of us were already zonked out by the time the power blew.”

“You could probably do it again tonight and we wouldn’t feel a thing,” Fallon laughed, though Ryoko didn’t appreciate the joke. He explained, “We’ve been out all day hiking around the dam. We’re beat.”

“You were hiking in  _ this _ weather?” Ryoko was astonished.

Philip pointed at her face. “See! That’s the normal human reaction to hiking in a blizzard, right!? Because that’s exactly what I said this morning!”

Fallon clapped Philip on the back cheerfully and assured the younger man, “You’ll get used to it, don’t worry.” Then he told Ryoko, “We’re scientists, so it’s only right that we go out in any kind of weather to get the job done. It really wasn’t that bad under the trees.”

Ryoko shook her head slightly, doubting that she would ever say the same about herself. “Well, I am happy to hear that you’ve all been making the most of your stay,” she said. “I’ll be going…”

“Please don’t go!” Dorothea pleaded, reappearing behind Ryoko with a stack of ceramic sake cups clutched in each hand. “Please, join us for just one drink.”

Dorothea’s insistence began to trouble Ryoko, and it must have shown on her face. The other woman explained, “You see… we actually wanted to ask you a few things about the ryokan if you don’t mind.”

Oh. It made a little more sense now, though Jiro would be better suited to addressing their needs as head of guest relations. Ryoko re-assumed the role of helpful manager, saying pleasantly, “Certainly. What can I help you with?”

A timer went off in the kitchen and Dorothea smiled. “That’s the sake! One moment.” She set the four little cups down in front of everyone at the table and pranced away. 

Philip put a cushion down for Ryoko, who sat sedately across from him. As they waited she said, “Mr Akimoto told me that you’re all here for research. What is it that you’re researching, if I may ask?”

Fallon grinned broadly. “Absolutely!” He answered with enthusiasm. “Have you ever heard of Anthrozoology?”

Ryoko mentally brushed the cobwebs off of what little Greek and Latin she remembered from high school. “Something to do with animals?”

“The relationships between animals and people,” Fallon clarified. “The Professor has been all over the world examining how nature has shaped human civilization since ancient times, and this latest assignment has brought us here.”

Dorothea returned to sit at the last empty side of the table and began pouring the warmed sake out of a ceramic carafe into each of their cups. “Animals have played a large part in the myths and legends of every culture, and the diversity of spiritual beliefs in Japan makes it a particularly intimidating subject of study. We hardly knew where to start, but we were so excited when the Professor found out about this inn and booked us on the next flight to Japan!”

Ryoko knew that her family’s ryokan enjoyed some amount of international fame, but she would not have suspected the same of the local superstitions that surrounded it. She asked cautiously, “Do you mean that you’ve heard of the curse, too?”

Dorothea put her hands together, pleased. “You’ve got it!” She picked up her cup and made a toast in Ryoko’s direction. “Think you could tell us what you know?”

To Ryoko’s dismay, Philip pushed his dominoes aside to make room for a notebook, as if he was going to write what she said. She was embarrassed as she admitted, “Actually, I don’t really know all that much about it. You see, I only started working here this week.”

If her guests were disappointed, they hid it well. “Oh really? That’s too bad,” Fallon said. “But it was worth a shot anyway. Here’s to your new position!” Like Dorothea, he raised his sake toward Ryoko. “We hope you do well!”

Relieved, Ryoko did the same. “And to your research! I wish you all great success.”

Dorothea, Fallon, and Ryoko all took polite sips, but the uninitiated Philip downed his whole cup like a shot. He began to cough, exclaiming, “Ack! That’s hot!”

Dorothea shook her head. “Duh, it’s warming sake. Wait, have you never had sake before?”

Ryoko hid a smile as Philip, embarrassed, became defensive and objected to Dorothea’s teasing. Then the Professor came out of the kitchen bearing a bamboo tray and she began to stand up. “I’ll be going now,” she said. “Enjoy your dinner, and thank you again…”

“Nonsense, Miss Naoe,” the Professor replied, setting a plate down in front of her along with the others. “You must join us. We have more than enough to share.”

Before Ryoko could refuse, she felt a pang of hunger and remembered that it had been several hours since she had eaten. The fresh rice and expertly cooked salmon on the plate looked delicious, better than anything she could throw together on her own with what she had in her pantry. The sake had also done its part to lubricate her nerves, and so she found herself accepting his invitation.

As they ate, the Professor explained more about what had brought his team to Wakkanai. “While the legend of the curse is certainly intriguing, our research is a bit broader in scope,” he told Ryoko. “We’re focusing on the role of the wolf in Japanese folklore, how it has changed over time, and what could have influenced those changes.”

“Ah, I see,” Ryoko replied. “Like how the black wolf was once a guardian spirit in Wakkanai, but now people around here consider it to be bad luck.”

“Precisely,” the Professor nodded, and Ryoko silently thanked Jiro for helping her to sound a little more knowledgeable than she felt. He continued, “In other places where similar shifts have occurred, we can use historical evidence to hypothesize that outside forces altered the spiritual landscape. For example, religious missionaries manipulating indigenous peoples’ beliefs to align with colonial theology.”

Curious, Ryoko asked, “There are a lot of interesting animals in Japanese mythology, why wolves? They’ve been extinct in Japan for a hundred years.”

The Professor smiled faintly. “I suppose it’s a romantic wish to rewrite their tragic ending,” he said. 

“According to some people, it could be possible that they aren’t extinct after all,” Fallon said conspiratorially. Philip rolled his eyes and Dorothea smirked. 

Ryoko, however, was startled, “Really? Who said that?”

Dorothea jerked her thumb over her shoulder, in the direction of the other summer suites. “Bill Bishop, the guest in the room at the other end, is here chasing rumors that the Hokkaido wolf still exists.” 

“You mean he’s not with you?” Ryoko asked, puzzled.

“We used to work together some years ago,” the Professor replied. “But Mr Bishop now operates in very different circles.”

“You could say he’s gone over to the dark side,” Fallon added, gesturing with his chopsticks. “He uses his tracking skills to hunt rare and endangered species to furnish the wealthy with exotic trophies. It’s a real shame.”

The conversation then moved on to lighter topics, such as the Professor’s cooking and Philip’s admiration of the resort’s hot springs. Ryoko encouraged them to take advantage of the facilities over the weekend, especially with the blizzard in the forecast. When they finished eating, Fallon cleared the plates and Dorothea poured another round of sake.

* * *

10:30 PM

Ryoko found herself genuinely enjoying the anthropologists’ company and getting to know them. Dorothea kept their sake cups full as they talked until the bottle was finally empty. Philip stood up from the table and told them, “I’m going to have to call it a night. I’m bushed.”

Ryoko checked her phone and was flabbergasted by the time. “I should return to my room as well,” she said. As she stood she felt lightheaded; the sake had more of an effect on her than she had realized. Trying to maintain her composure, she offered them all a slight bow. “Thank you very much for your company this evening.”

“Thank you, Miss Naoe,” the Professor replied. He accompanied her to the door, where she picked up her shoes but did not put them on. “I hope that you’ll join us again soon.”

Ryoko’s room was freezing cold, but she was warm and buzzing from the sake. She was also far too tired to care. Dragging the heater up the stairs behind her, she switched it on before changing her clothes and collapsing into a pile of blankets. Thankfully that night she did not even dream.

* * *

11:30 AM Thursday 13 December

The twins were thoroughly impressed when Ryoko picked them up from their apartment in her grandfather’s luxury car. Their neighborhood was quiet and run down, with several shuttered shops and neglected streets riddled by potholes. Ryoko tried not to think too much about what their father’s medical treatment must have cost them in order for their salary to only cover living in such a run-down part of town.

Larissa and Tamara advised her on which shops to visit for the best deals while they drove to the mall near the airport. As Ryoko had suspected, it was not very busy on a weekday, judging by the sparsely populated parking lot. Larissa, however, seemed restless, checking her phone and then her make-up in the rear-view mirror.

“Is everything okay?” Ryoko asked, pulling into a spot.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Larissa answered absently.

They climbed out of the car and Tamara explained, “I’m afraid that my sister hasn’t been totally honest with you. She asked someone else to meet us at the mall.”

Ryoko was puzzled by the secrecy. “Oh, well, that’s fine,” she told Tamara as Larissa practically skipped ahead of them through the mall’s entrance. “Who is it?”

“There you are, Yuliy!” Larissa exclaimed, throwing her arms open wide and making a beeline for a dark-haired man standing beside a juice kiosk outside of the food court. He turned around at the sound of his name being called and Ryoko recognized him immediately as the stand-offish busboy.

She turned to Tamara and asked, “Hey, isn’t that..?”

Tamara nodded. “His name is Yuliy, he works in the kitchen at the inn. You’ve probably seen him around. He’s only been here a couple of weeks but Larissa is already crazy about him.”

The attraction did not appear mutual. Yuliy’s expression did not change as Larissa greeted him enthusiastically. He wore the same ragged coat that Ryoko had seen him in the day before, and the rest of his clothes seemed equally worn. His gaze passed over Larissa to the other two and he grew very still. Again, Ryoko was disturbed by the hardness of his blue eyes and resisted the urge to flee.

Larissa noticed the change in his body language and asked Yuliy, “You don’t mind that my sister and the boss are tagging along, do you? Miss Naoe’s got some shopping to do, too.” She smiled and added pointedly, “I’m sure they won’t get in the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> I said at the end of the last one that I didn't think I would have time to write another fix but OOPS here I am. The chapters won't be as long for this one though, and I'll be updating the rating later.


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